Apparatus for the treatment of gases.



No. 777,989. 1 PATENTED DEC.- 20, 1904. B. E. WERNER.v APPARATUS FOR THETREATMENT OF GASES APPLICATION FILED AUG.11, 1904.

N0 MODEL.

zls Ffforzzey Unurnp Snares Patented December 20, 190a.

PATENT @rrrca ERNEST WERNER, OF ST. LUUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TOELECTRICAL PURIFYING COMPANY, OE STAFFORD, KANSAS, A- 'CORPORATTON OF'KANSAS.

APPARATUS FOR THE TREATMENT OF GASES" SPEOIFICATIONforming part ofLetters Patent No. 777,989, dated December 20, 1904b Originalapplication filed'June 13, 1904, Serial No. 212,316. Divided and thisapplication filed August 11, 1904:. Serial v No. 220,302.

To aZZ whom. it may concern:

Be itknown thatI', ERNnsT E. WERNER, a citizen of the United States,residing at St.

Louis, in the Stateof 'Missouri, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Ap paratus for the Treatment of Gases, of which thefollowing is a specification.

invention relates to apparatus used for the treatment of gases bysubjecting them to the action of electrical discharges, and the generalpurpose of my invention is to" provide means whereby gases under variouspressures, and therefore at different ratesof flux, may be brought toanabsolutely uniform degree'of saturation.

' The special purpose of the present invention is improvement of theapparatus disclosed in my pending application, Serial No. 212,316, filedJune 13, 1904, of which this application is a division.

It is a well-known'factthat the external or non-inductive resistance-inthe secondary circuit of .a transformer having a large factor ofself-induction is practically negligible. This property of an air-gap Idesire to utilize by establishing across the same an arc of some form ofdisruptive electrical discharge and then by injecting gas under pressureinto the gap transversely to and against the arc deflect the arc fromits normal course and elongate it laterally and by varying the pressureofthe gas so irijected correspondingly vary the ex- Marc.

tent of. such deflection and elongation of the One'object of myinventionis to automatically vary the arc in proportion to the amount of gassubjected thereto, so that the gas will be uniformly treated whether alarge or small volume of the gas is presented to the are in a giventime; and the special object of my pres- ,ent improvement is. toautomatically vary the.

,- amount of current supplied to the arc-inrpro- 1 portion to the amountof gas subjectedtothe action ofthe arc.

In-the accompanying drawing, which diagrammatically illustratesapparatus for carrying out my lnventlon, the figure is a-view They areinclosed in a chamber or casing 2 and are preferably supported by theinsulating-bottom 3 of the casing, and they are'con nected-to thesecondarya ofa transformer in themanner hereinafter described; The pri=mary 5 of the transformer, is supplied by means of a battery 6 or'anyother suitable source of electrical energy. .The transformer may be ofanys'uitable form,and in practice 1 use the form commonly known as anin-i du'ction-coil. H p Situated adjacent to the ends of the terminalsand preferably directly below them is a supply-pipe 7 for supplying thegas to the arc formed between the terminals. This supplypipe leads froma supply-tank 8, in which the gas to be subjected to the action of thearc is contained under pressure. The-chamber 2, in

which the terminals are 'situated,is gas-tight,

and leading therefrom are a number of conduits 9, which conduct the gasafter it has been acted upon by the arc to various pointswhere it is tobe utilized. The outlet of each of the conduits is provided with a valve10 or other suitable means for controlling the flow of the gas. 1

If the valves 10 are opened to a considerable extent, the treated gaswill pass quite freely therefrom, and consequently there will'be butlittle back pressure in the chamber 2. Under such conditions the flowthrough the pipe 7 from the compressed gas within the tank 8 Willbeforced against the are, so as to lengthen 'it,-as-'shown at 11 in thedrawing, and the gas will be thoroughly treated. in case the valves 10are partially closed, so that little gas can escape, the back pressurein the cham- I end 01f the cylinder.

' against the resistance oer 2- will become greater, so, that the gasfrom the tank 8 will enter the chamber wit less force, and consequentlythe are will not be drawn out, but will be reduced in size until itpasses practically straight across from one terminal to the other. Inthis way the size of the arc is automatically regulated by andproportioned to the quantity of gas injected against and subjected toit, thereby effecting uniform treatment of the gas, whether its volumebe increased or diminished. For example, I find in practice thatatmospheric air-treated in this manner will contain substantially thesame amount of compounds of oxygen and nitrogen when the apparatus isworking at its full capacity as when only a very small quantity of airis allowed to pass through the apparatus. Furthermore, the air or othergas being under pressure when injected into the 'gapits expansion uponbeing freed will serve to bring its body into more intimate and thoroughcontact with the arc and also cause it to have a cooling, effect. ()neof the terminals 1 in the construction shown is connected to one end ofthe secondary 4 of the transformer; but the secondary is divided into anumber of sections,which are 1 connected with contacts 12. Thesecontacts are arranged in the path of a switch-arm 13, which switch-armis connected to the other terminal A conduit 14 leads from the chamber 2and-opens into a cylinder 15, in which is a piston-rod 17, extendingthrough a fixed guide'18, and between the piston and guide is acoil-spring 19, that tends to force the piston away from the guide andtoward the. rear The forward end of the rod; is connected, by means of alink 20, to the switch-arm 13 for causing movements of the latter to beproduced by the piston reciprocations to regulate the position of theswitch-arm relative to the contacts 12.

W hen there is little gas-pressure in the pisto chamber 2, as when thevalves 10 are open,

the spring 19 will force the piston toward the rear of the cylinder 15,and thereby swing the slvziyi'l'ij arm on its fulcrum to out in more oft e secondary 4 of the transformer, and thus ijncrease the amount ofcurrent supplied to the are; but when some or all of the valves 10 areclosed the back pressure in the chamber will be increased, and thispressure acting upon the piston 16 will force it outward of the springand move the switch-arm to position to cut out more of the secondary,and. thereby correspondingly lessen the amount of current supplied tothe arc.

As the amount of current supplied to the are from the transformer isdependent upon the relative proportions of the secondary 4 cutin and outout by the switch-arm, and'as the position of the latter relative to thecontacts 12 is regulated by the reciprocation of the piston 16, and asthe latter movement isefaffected by the combination with fected by thedifference between the outward pressure of the gas in the cylinder 15and the inward pressure of the spring 18 upon the piston, it is obviousthat the quantity of current supplied and hence the size of the areproduced are controlled by the degree of back pressure in the chamber 2and that the inflow of'gas through the pipe 7 is likewise back pressurein the generat ing-chamber. In this way not only is the size of the areregulated by regulating the amount of current supplied to it, but by thesame means the quantity of air or other gas introduced to it fortreatment is correspondingly regulated. I have found in practice that ifthe escape of the gases from the chamber is entirely prevented thearcwill entirely disappear as soon as the gases in the chamber have beenthoroughly treated by the arc.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent,

1. In an apparatus for treating gases, the combination with an inclosedchamber having suitable inlets and outlets, of electric terminals insaid chamber, means for supplying current to said terminals, and meanscon trolled by the pressure of the gas in said chamber for varying saidcurrent-supply.

2. In an apparatus for treating gases, the combination with an inclosedchamber having suitable inlets and outlets, of electric terminals insaid chamber, means for supplying current to said terminals, means forsupplying gas under pressure to the are between the terminals, and meanscontrolled by the pressure of the gas in said chamber for varying saidcurrent-supply;

3. In an apparatus for treating gases, the combination with an'inclosedchamber having suitable inlets and outlets, of electric terminals insaid chamber, an induction-coil having its secondary connected' withsaid terminals,

and means controlled by the pressure of the gas in said chamber forvarying the amount of said secondary in circuit.

4. In an apparatus for tr'eating gases, the an inclosed chamber havingsuitable inlets and outlets, of electric terminals .in said chamber,means for supplying current to said terminals, means for supplying gasunder pressure to the action of the arc between the terminals, means forregulating the escape of gas from said chamber, and means controlled bythe pressure of the gas IlITi said chamber for varying said current-sup-P y- .5. In anapparatus for treating gases, the combination with aninclosed chamber having suitable inlets and outlets, of electricterminals in said chamber, an induction-coil having its secondary incircuit with said terminals, means for supplying gas under pressure tothe arc between said terminals, a cylinder 00111 said cylinder, andconnections between said piston and said secondary for varying theamount of saidsecondary in circuit. i

6. In an apparatus for'treating gases, the combination with aninclosed'chambe r having "suitable inlets and outlets, of electrlcterminals in said chamber, means for "supplying current to saidterminals, means controlled by the pressure of the gas iflsaid chamberfor varying said current-supply; means for supplying gas under pressureto the are between "the terminals. and means for regulatingthe pressureof gas in said chamber and thereby discharge of gas from said outlets tovary the ERNEST E. WERNER. -Witnesses: WILLIAM A. KINNEBK, I

F. R. HATTERSLEY.

